Tuesday, September 15, 2009

I slogged my way to the finish line of the shawl body a few days ago. As you might imagine, I am very tired of pink. I have miles of edging to knit on before the thing is completed, but I am putting it aside for a while to let my Pink Receptors recover from extended stimulation. Cindersall's reversal of the crown motif was masterful, and I think it looks better than the original.

Honeysuckle Shawl/Sweater
Having carefully placed the Bat shawl on the bottom of my UFO pile, I decided to treat myself with my rendition of the Honeysuckle shawl/sweater thing, which appeared in Issue #6 of The Knitter.

This design is beautiful--elegant, graceful, and feminine. I had to read the directions four times because I simply couldn't believe that the designer would actually take a round shawl and convert it to flat knitting. Thus, the reader is instructed to knit across the pattern row, turn, purl back, and then, when the piece is finished, sew up the back seam. Nah. I am knitting it in the round like a grown-up.

For the sleeves, the original design calls for casting off 40 stitches one one row and then casting on 40 stitches in the next row. The sleeves are knitted separately and then sewn into the gap. Why make an ugly seamline at the shoulder and force the knitter to do even more sewing? Instead, I will knit a contrasting piece of yarn over 40 stitches. When I am ready to do the sleeve, I will carefully undo the contrasting yarn, pick up the stitches around the armhole, and knit the sleeves from the top down to the wrist.

In an incredible display of foresight, I decided to bead only the sleeves and the front side of the sweater. I realized that if I beaded the entire thing, I would wear the sweater once, wonder why my back felt like llittle glass beads were digging into it, slap my forehead, and put the thing away forever.

I am using Hamanaka mohair/silk Parfait yarn and some pretty beads that have been languishing in the closet for a while. Harry finds the piece rather restful. Too restful. I have to shake him out of the thing every time I want to work on it.

Spinning
I love Corgi Hill batts. I love them to pieces. I want to make an entire room out of Corgi Hill batts and live there. While I am busy accumulating the raw materials for the Corgi Hill Extension, I actually spun some up. Here's a neat ball of Navajo-plied merino/silk:

It will probably become a scarf for Kyoko-san if Harry doesn't filch it and bury it in his stash drawer.

And here's what's currently on the spindle:

The lovely fluff is Corgi Hill merino/silk and the tulipwood/ebony spindle is from Spindlewoods. I have no idea what I will do with the finished yarn, but I am thinking it should be two-ply laceweight, which of course leads to wandering around my notebooks looking for an appropriate project. Like I need another project...

Sleeves pull on the shoulders with their weight; shoulder seams reinforce that area so it is less likely to stretch. Some designers write in seams to give support in certain ares (others are just hidebound). When the back of the neck of a cardigan stretches because it wasn't bound off-and-picked up, crocheting across it is said to give the needed support. You may find you need to crochet the shoulders; I recommend that you save a little yarn for the purpose.

I might knit the sleeves from the bottom and do a 3-needle bind-off. But the yarn is so light that this probably won't be necessary. And I have knitted quite a few sweaters for Roy that are totally seamless and there doesn't seem to be a support problem. Thanks for the input, though!

I understand about the pink overload but the King Bat is looking really great. I have some Cori Hill and I think it's delightful too but I just don't have any time to spin it yet. Guess I will just have to drool over your spinning :-)

I have been thinking of good things that come in pink and all I could think of was pink diamonds and I am not fond of them. But I do like a good pink, one of the colors most fems can wear including self.

I am often amazed that you can knit big lace projects from center on that turn into these giant blobs without getting frustrated. They frustrate me as I cannot see the design develop and I am never 100% sure that I have not made a mistake somewhere.

I have a love-hate relationship with pink. I like certain shades but only in socks or scarves. I can't really do a pink shirt, thought I kind of cheat with magenta and salmon. I'm trying to overcome my fear of pink. I do have some pink undies. There. Now you know.

I love pink, but am currently on a no-more-pink-in-the-stash bend. Why? because my girls always claim it for their own...

Likewise, I think I'm glad the Green Woman doesn't snatch my stash for her own. She has, however, been digging all of my stuff out lately to tempt me away from my more prosaic work. (I had to write a letter to her in my blog yesterday....she's been quite the bother.)